Home
About Me
Topics
Journeys!
Feedback
Links
Site Map
Angel Island (and a Febulous Ferry Trip!)
A
trip to San Francisco is not complete without taking a ferry to Angel Island
State Park. Angel Island is one of the best places in the Bay Area
to take a bike...and a picnic lunch. But the journey to the island, via
the very affordable ferry, is probably as enticing as the island
itself. Angel Island has a storied past. Its first inhabitants were the Coast Miwok Indians who probably used the then forested island on a seasonal basis. In 1775, the Spanish explorer Don Juan Manuel de Ayala (the first European to sail into San Francisco Bay) landed on the island. From 1839 until 1850 the island was used for cattle ranching by Antonio Mario Osio. From 1910 until 1940 Angel Island became the "Ellis Island of the West," processing over 170,000 Asian immigrants entering the United States. (The Immigration Station is closed for renovation until January 2008.) Angel Island has a long military history as well, beginning with the Civil War-era Camp Reynolds, then Fort McDowell, and finally a Nike missile battery. The five mile bike trip on the Perimeter Road takes you past, and into, these historic sites. (For more detailed information on the park and its history click here and here.)
There are only two ways to get to Angel Island, by private boat or by ferry. I'll make the assumption that your yacht is in for repairs so you'll be traveling by ferry. You can catch the ferry at four places: San Francisco's handsomely restored Ferry Terminal,
Pier 41 (Fishermans Wharf), Tiberon, or from Jack London Square
in Oakland. My favorite point of departure is Jack London Square
because it extends my ferry ride, gives me additional (spectacular)
views of South Beach and the Financial District, and takes me
right under the Bay Bridge (that beautiful architectural wonder that
had the misfortune of sharing in the same bay with the elegant, 
hyper-photogenic
Golden Gate Bridge). Oh, I also like Jack London Square because it
lacks the hordes of people you'll find at the other points of
debarkation. (I was the only person with a bike on the Oakland to SF
leg of the ferry trip, as this photo shows). For info on the
Alameda/Oakland Ferry click here. For San Francisco ferry departures click here and for Tiburon Peninsula departures click here.My Car-free Angel Island Escape
A job assignment brought me back to the Bay Area in October. This time around I decided to stay in Fremont. My mid-October car-free Angel Island getaway began by taking BART from Fremont to the Oakland City Center/12th Street Station. I then biked to Jack London Square, pedaled the Bay Trail for a little bit, and then caught the 9:00 a.m ferry. A quick transfer at Fishermans Wharf and I stepped off at Angel Island's Ayala Cove by around 10. At Ayala Cove you can pick up a map, talk to a ranger, catch a snack, squander money in the small gift shop, explore the visitors' center, or just hang out at
the grassy shoreline picnic
area. I chose to forgo all that and hit the trail. You can bike the
perimeter of the island in an hour or so but I like to explore the
various historic sites, take in the expansive views, watch the
red-tailed hawks soar effortlessly overhead, and generally be a man of leisure (that's me leisuring on the bench, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance).
There are lots of vistas along the way where you can get off your bike
and take in million dollar views of San Francisco, Berkeley, Tiburon
Peninsula, Belvedere Island, and Mt. Tamalpais.
If you really want to stretch your legs you can park your bike and hike
to the top of Mt. Livermore, not surprisingly a Miwok sacred site.
Being
a former archaeologist, there's nothing I like more than poking
around anything that's old, rusty and dusty. Angel Island has its
share, plus some wonderfully restored historic buildings. I found lots
of photo ops biking and walking around these mostly decaying old
military buildings and structures. 
To put a little more drama into my day, I got preoccupied and ended up missing my ferry back to Oakland. (I have a history of doing this kind of thing -- just ask my wife.) The ferry operators generously offered me a lift back to San Francisco, via Tiburon. Beggars can't be choosers so I took them up on the offer. At the Ferry Terminal I grabbed a quick bite to eat, biked to the Embarcadero BART station and grabbed the next train for Fremont. Although not quite how I had planned it, the circle was closed on this great day-long, car-free journey.